Most of you are probably familiar with product placement, which is when TV producers and networks subtley (and sometimes not so subtley) depict a character on a show using a product like a Mac or drinking a Pepsi. This is a pretty clever form of advertising that is really effective. What you are probably less familiar with is product integration, which is something different (although the lines are blurring every day). This was far more frequent on shows from the early days of TV, back in the 40′s and 50′s.

Typically, you’d have a perfectly good narrative going in the show, and the characters would just suddenly interrupt to advertise a product right in the middle of the story. It basically forced the content creators to write ads into the program, and the more creative ones would just slyly work it into the narrative, but even then it was pretty jarring. Then again, I guess if you were from the 40′s and you saw commercials, you’d probably be unfamiliar with and annoyed by those.

If comics were subject to the same rules, they’d look something like this.

On another note, it seems we have been together for 50 comics! Can you believe it? I can’t. Time really does fly, huh? Have a nice weekend!